As low interest rates gradually become the norm, a somewhat "peculiar" industry phenomenon has begun to emerge.
On one hand, cash-oriented tools for the general public are seeing their returns converge and their functions become increasingly similar.
On the other hand, products that appear only on the high-end wealth management shelves of large securities firms, primarily targeting private placement clients, are charting a completely different path when it comes to "holding cash."
What should inherently be the simplest and most transparent asset—"cash"—is now being placed into more complex arrangements.
This shift is not overtly publicized and is rarely discussed in isolation, yet it is quietly taking place.
For a portion of capital, the question of "where to place it" is no longer just a choice based on return levels but has entered an entirely different operational system.
The "Exception" Among Idle Fund Products In the current low-interest-rate environment, the returns are nearly identical for placing temporarily unused, yet readily accessible, funds into any given product.
Zishitang observed that on the wealth platform operated by China International Capital Corporation (CICC), a product named "Cash Treasure" stands out among similar cash management products.
The product's full name is "Foreign Trade Trust - CICC Cash Treasure XX Series Collective Fund Trust Plan," hereafter referred to as "CICC Cash Treasure." Public information indicates that this product is open to private-placement-class high-net-worth clients, with a seven-day annualized yield that can reach 1.9% (as of December 25, 2025).
The "prominence" of this yield performance comes from a direct comparison with mainstream cash management tools currently available.
As of now, the one-year time deposit rate at major state-owned banks has fallen below 1%, while the five-year time deposit rate is approximately 1.3%. During the same period, the yield on ten-year government bonds hovers around 1.80%, and the annualized yield of most "baby fund" money market funds in the market remains around 1%.
Against this backdrop, the key differences between CICC Cash Treasure and traditional time deposits, government bonds, and money market funds lie primarily in its relatively higher yield level and the fact that its target clientele does not encompass all ordinary investors.
How Is This Money Actually Placed? Judging by its name, "CICC Cash Treasure" is not a fund but a trust product; its full name includes "Collective Fund Trust Plan," which defines its basic structure.
Simply put, investors do not directly hand their money to CICC. Instead, funds are channeled through a trust conduit to be managed collectively by China Foreign Economy and Trade Trust Co., Ltd. (abbreviated as "Foreign Trade Trust").
CICC's role in this structure is to provide investment advice and execute specific operations for this trust—commonly referred to as "managing the portfolio."
As illustrated conceptually, this product deliberately promotes an experience akin to "holding cash": The product supports daily subscriptions and redemptions. After an investor submits a redemption request, the funds typically arrive in their account within T+2 business days.
In other words, the product does not require long-term capital lock-up, and its liquidity arrangements are quite similar to those of most cash management products.
Looks Like a Money Market Fund, But Isn't One If the user experience is so close to holding cash, why wasn't CICC Cash Treasure simply structured as a money market fund?
In terms of usage, CICC Cash Treasure's liquidity arrangements are indeed similar to those of a money market fund: it supports daily subscriptions and redemptions, primarily intended for holding funds that are temporarily idle but require a degree of accessibility.
However, unlike most money market funds which offer T+0 or T+1 settlement, redemptions from CICC Cash Treasure settle in T+2 business days, reflecting the operational tempo of a trust product.
In terms of product structure, it also did not adopt the more common form of a money market fund but opted for the trust channel instead.
This arrangement differs from the cash management products more familiar to ordinary investors: trust products themselves are not open to everyone and have relatively high participation thresholds. The minimum subscription amount for CICC Cash Treasure is 300,000 yuan, and investors must still complete qualified investor certification (meeting the entry criteria for private placement clients). Therefore, eligibility is not determined solely by the minimum investment amount.
Precisely because of this, while CICC Cash Treasure offers a "user experience close to cash," it maintains clear distinctions from ordinary money market funds in terms of settlement speed, product vehicle, and operational methods.
Zishitang learned that private placement products often utilize the trust channel primarily to pool dispersed funds for unified management, which also allows for greater operational flexibility.
Layer Upon Layer When a product, originally intended just for "holding cash," requires multiple layers of arrangement to function, the matter itself is no longer simple.
Beneath the CICC Cash Treasure layer, the funds are not directly invested into specific bonds or money market instruments.
According to the product说明书, the CICC Cash Treasure units purchased by investors are primarily invested in the units of another trust product.
Yes, you read that correctly! This Cash Treasure's full name itself indicates it is a trust plan, yet the funds it raises are, in turn, invested into another trust plan.
Specifically, the relevant funds are mainly invested in the "Foreign Trade Trust - Wanshi Shengxiang Bond Selection [A] Series (Daily Xin) Collective Fund Trust Plan," for which China Foreign Economy and Trade Trust Co., Ltd. acts as the trustee.
This arrangement constitutes the most直观 "layer upon layer" structure of CICC Cash Treasure:
The first layer is the Cash Treasure product purchased by investors. The second layer is the underlying trust plan it invests in, with the actual asset allocation occurring in this deeper layer.
Within the underlying trust, the funds are primarily allocated to standardized fixed-income assets, supplemented by high-liquidity instruments such as reverse repurchase agreements and interbank certificates of deposit, to meet the overall subscription and redemption arrangements.
By this point, the product's "complexity" is beginning to become apparent.
Limited by publicly available information, we cannot further ascertain the specific operational details of the "Foreign Trade Trust - Wanshi Shengxiang Bond Selection [A] Series (Daily Xin)" underlying trust. However, it can be confirmed that this underlying trust was established on September 11, 2019.
Judging by its name and investment direction, this is a product primarily focused on bond-type assets, and its risk level is correspondingly higher than that of an ordinary money market fund.
An "Unconventional" Fee Structure What is truly noteworthy is the "unconventional" fee structure embedded within this layered arrangement.
According to product documents, the underlying trust sets a clear performance benchmark. Any amount exceeding this benchmark will be taken as a floating management fee, with a staggering 100% of the excess performance being charged, applied on a daily basis across the entire portfolio.
This practice is starkly different from the majority of private placement products in the market.
Whether for private securities funds or hedge funds, the performance fee (or carried interest) for excess returns is typically around 20%. Some top-performing or highly negotiable quantitative private placements might charge 25%-30%, and these fees are usually settled annually or periodically. A "100% take" is rarely, if ever, used.
Yet, within the CICC Cash Treasure structure, the excess returns are not shared between the investor and the manager but are entirely allocated as management fees.
This arrangement is, in form, more "direct" and breaks from the common profit-sharing conventions within the private placement industry.
It is crucial to note that this fee mechanism is not implemented in an aggressive product characterized by high volatility and high risk. Instead, it is nested within the structure of a cash-like product that is repeatedly emphasized for its "liquidity" and "ease of access."
Where Exactly Is This Money? Finally, we must return to the product's actual operational performance itself.
Observing the收益 curve of CICC Cash Treasure, its yield per 10,000 units has exhibited a highly regular distribution pattern over an extended period. The yield level on the vast majority of trading days is concentrated within a similar range, with noticeable spikes occurring only at isolated points in time.
Simultaneously, the evolution of the product's serial numbers on the platform provides another noteworthy detail.
Public information shows that this product has appeared sequentially as series No. 1 through No. 11, followed later by a sub-series numbered 151.
Considering these phenomena together, certain questions arise: Is CICC Cash Treasure a product operating independently around a single asset or a single account? Or does it more closely resemble a continuously operating pool of funds?
It must be emphasized that this line of inquiry is not equivalent to a judgment on the product's compliance.
In the practical operation of trust and private placement products, managing funds through multiple sub-plans for layered management is not uncommon in itself.
However, for a product repeatedly emphasized as offering an "experience close to cash," the existence of this operational mode makes it difficult to simply apply the logic of a traditional money market fund or a single private placement product.
CICC Cash Treasure appears more akin to a cash solution tailored for a specific client segment...